Kolchak is the third boss you will encounter in Wanted: Dead and is found on the rooftop of the Deaf Panther Club after you fight your way through several floors of enemies. Like the other boss fights thus far, Kolchak has two phases and will rely on a gimmick to get the best of you.
The good news is that Kolchak's gimmick is relatively easy to deal with, and you will have many opportunities to Counter her attacks for enormous damage, allowing you to put her away relatively painlessly once you know her strategy.
Kolchak Overview
Before we dive into Kolchak's moves and the overall strategy to defeat her, let's briefly go over some Skills that will help you tremendously in this encounter. During the first phase of this battle, Kolchak will have a cloak that enables her to go invisible. However, she will occasionally reveal herself, and you will be able to Counter some of her attacks as a result, which can lead to massive damage with the right Skills. You can find which ones will benefit you the most below!
Recommended Skills
- Standard Combo Extender (Offense)
- Handgun Counter Follow-Up (Offense)
- Melee Damage Up (Offense)
- Guard Strength Increase (Defense)
- Evade Window Increase (Defense)
- Armor Reinforce (Defense)
Since you are roughly in the middle of the campaign, you will likely have accumulated lots of SP already, especially if you tackled the Mini-Games and other activities between Missions. However, you may not have some of the Skills listed above, and that's fine. You will still be able to clear the fight, just not as quickly. Lastly, this encounter doesn't have any of the other members of Zombie Squad with you, meaning Doc cannot Revive you if you fall in battle, so keep that in mind moving forward.
Kolchak Phase One
As mentioned already, phase one of the Kolchak boss encounters focuses on her ability to go invisible thanks to her cloak. When she's invisible, you can see shimmers of her outline as she tries to position herself to shoot you with her Sniper Rifle, dealing mass damage if it connects. Fortunately, this phase isn't too long or demanding, which we will cover in the sections below!
Kolchak Phase One Strategy
Phase one is all about identifying where Kolchak is, then closing the gap between you and her and unleashing a barrage of melee attacks on her until she vanishes and attempts to reposition herself. The best way to track her down is to stand still and keep your eyes peeled for a shimmering, transparent outline. Once you see that, you know her location and can swiftly make your way over to her.
This is where the Evade Window Increase Skill comes into play. You can spam Evade toward her and bypass her bullets, allowing you to get close enough to land several attacks before she decides to relocate. When she moves, try and get back to the center of the arena, then do the same method as last time to track her down. From here, you're repeating this strategy until you get her down to half-health, which triggers a cutscene and kicks off the second phase.
Thanks to Kolchak's mobility and cloak in the first phase, we highly recommend not using your guns here and saving them for the second phase. She will dodge most of your rounds, and you do not want to waste them as they will come in handy later.
Cloak And Sniper
Kolchak really only has one attack during the first phase, which is her ability to activate her cloak and turn invisible before trying to find a vantage point to land a shot on you with her Sniper Rifle. Once you reveal her position and attack her, she will simply vanish and try to find another spot. Phase two, however, is much more involved, which we will go over in the section below!
Kolchak Phase Two
After the brief cutscene plays out, phase two will begin, with Kolchak's cloak being busted. Here, she will pull out a wakizashi (short sword) and pick her pace up tremendously. This shifts the game of 'cat and mouse' into an all-out brawl, making for frantic combat encounters. However, most of her attacks during this phase are well-telegraphed, allowing you to best her with focus and execution.
Kolchak Phase Two Strategy
Despite her cloak being busted, Kolchak is still incredibly swift and hard to hit. However, now that you can see her, you will be able to react to her attacks and punish her whenever she attempts to land specific ones. You will also be able to land shots on her more consistently. While, overall, using your gun isn't the best option here, it can still chip away at her health, which you should take advantage of.
The Skill Handgun Counter Follow-Up will be an excellent way to end this encounter quickly, but if you don't have that Skill, you will still benefit from landing Handgun Counters and following up with your Standard Combo. While there will be many chances for you to attack, which we will cover below, your primary goal here is to wait for Kolchak Handgun Counterable attack, which is indicated by a flashing red light, allowing you to press the 'Y' button (Xbox Controller) and temporarily stun her, allowing you to follow-up with your own attacks.
With the Handgun Counter Follow-Up Skill, you can instantly press 'X' after landing a Handgun Counter to deliver a devastating slash with your Katana and follow it up with your Standard Combo for even more damage. You can learn more about her attacks in the sections below!
Critical Slash
This will be Kolchak's primary attack and the most crucial one to get down. Critical Slash is well-telegraphed by a red light that flashes on her wakizashi just before she swings it. This deals tremendous amounts of damage and will hit you if you cannot react in time. You can either avoid it altogether with a well-timed Evade, or you can press the "Y" button (Xbox Controller) as soon as the flash appears to execute a Handgun Counter.
As mentioned above, the Handgun Counter will temporarily stun her, allowing you to land a full Standard Combo immediately after. If you have the Handgun Counter Follow-Up Skill unlocked, pressing 'X' immediately after connecting the Counter will have you unleash an immensely powerful slash, after which you can perform your Standard Combo.
Since this attack of hers is so common, you can dodge everything else she throws at you and only use Handgun Counters to defeat her, which is our preferred strategy, due to the amount of damage you deal with them.
Fury Slashes
Next is another common attack from Kolchak is a fury of strikes from her wakizashi that can be Blocked, Parried, or Evaded to avoid taking damage. If you have the Guard Strength Increase Skill, you can block two of the four slashes from her blade before having to Evade or Parry the remaining two. Our recommendation here is to Block the first two, then Evade the others, as Parrying them can be hard due to how fast these attacks are, and these will deal considerable damage on contact.
Overall, your goal is to get her to unleash her Critical Slash so you can Handgun Counter it and punish her with a Standard Combo. Going for a parry or trying to deal damage during her other attacks puts you at a much more significant risk of taking unnecessary damage and can make things much tenser than it needs to be.
Dash And Slash
Finally, we have her Dash and Slash attack, which is precisely what it sounds like. Here, Kolchak will perform a blazingly fast dash that leaves a trail behind her before delivering a heavy strike with her blade. This attack can be Blocked, Parried, or Evaded but can be hard to react to due to its immense speed. If you see Kolchak hunker down and lunge forward, this attack is coming, so just hold the Block button and negate the damage.
Parrying this attack will leave her open for follow-up attacks, but it's so risky due to not only its speed but damage, so we recommend just blocking it and waiting for her Critical Slash. Other than that, this is all she has to offer in phase two, so repeat the steps outlined above until she's defeated to move on to the next Mission!